Noah Berlatsky: The three-part Beatles documentary we didn't need. - NBCNewsTHINK
Even solid songs from the legendary band become a kind of torment when it’s stretched out to eight hours in “The Beatles: Get Back” on Disney+.Michael Ochs ArchivesDirector Peter Jackson’s new three-part, eight-hour documentary, “The Beatles: Get Back,” airing on Disney+ starting Thursday, adds even more obsessive and exhausting detail to the history of a band that has been obsessively documented for more than 50 years.
At the beginning of 1969, the Beatles were in crisis. Their manager, Brian Epstein , had died. No one else was in a position to say “no” to any of the four most successful musicians on Earth. In a desperate bid to recapture their former collaborative spark, Paul McCartney suggested a practice session workshopping new songs without studio trickery or overdubs, so the tracks would sound and be reproducible live, as on their early albums.
The big takeaway from the new material is supposed to be that the Beatles didn’t hate one another at the time as much as previously suspected. Yes, we see the moment when Harrison, irritated with McCartney’s controlling demands, quits the band for a few days. Even the music becomes a kind of torment when it’s stretched out to eight hours. “Get Back” and “I’ve Got a Feeling” are solid songs. McCartney’s schmaltz ballads, like “Let It Be,” are still pretty. The retro rock ’n’ roll-flavored skiffle of “One After 909” still gets your toes tapping. But while they’re well-constructed, the songs in general just don’t hold up to this obsessive scrutiny.
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